Browndages Young Icons Edition Bandages, special edition box of adhesive bandages for brown skin, 2021. 📷 Science History Institute

The Science History Institute invites you to join us on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, for our 18th annual Heritage Day Awards ceremony, a virtual celebration of the exceptional achievements in chemistry, chemical engineering, the life sciences, and allied fields and industries. Register now for this free event, which includes the presentation of the Othmer Gold Medal to Jay Keasling, Philomathia Professor of Alternative Energy at the University of California, Berkeley and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute; the Richard J. Bolte Sr. Award for Supporting Industries to Barry Siadat, cofounder and managing director of SK Capital Partners; and the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal to Brian Hoffman, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University.

Detail of Serum Direct from the Horse, Freshly Supplied, a German caricature from The History of Inoculation and Vaccination for the Prevention and Treatment of Disease, circa 1913. 📷 Science History Institute

Animals and the Making of Human Vaccines, one of the Science History Institute’s most popular digital exhibitions, has been selected to be a featured story on Google Arts & Culture’s “A Brief History of Vaccination” project. This high-visibility, global initiative explores “centuries of life-saving science” through “discoveries, eradication, and ongoing research.” Curated by former fellow and staff member Rebecca Kaplan, the exhibition highlights the vital role animals have played in the production of vaccines and the prevention of diseases such as smallpox, rabies, and diphtheria.

Community members come together to raise awareness about the All of Us Research Program. 📷 National Institutes of Health

The All of Us Research Program: Innovation and Precision Medicine

February’s JPS virtual talk features Sheri Schully, acting chief medical and scientific officer of the National Institutes of Health-led All of Us Research Program, whose mission is to accelerate health research and medical breakthroughs, enabling individualized prevention, treatment, and care for all of us. 

Our Science and Activism “drop-in” tours explore the vital impacts made by engaged communities on scientific discovery, environmental justice, and public health. Guided Tours take place twice a month on Saturdays through February 2022. Admission is free and no reservations are necessary.

February’s Science on Tap virtual talk features Alexis Schulman, Dolan Fellow for Innovation in Water Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, who will discuss the “Green City, Clean Waters” initiative.

Dive into a day of family-friendly, water-related activities! Family Swim takes place once a month on Saturdays through February 2022. Admission is free and no reservations are necessary.

Take a deep dive into our museum with our Gallery Guides, who will lead visitors through an interactive water journey using objects from our handling collection. Collections Deep Dives take place on First Fridays through May 2022. Admission is free and no reservations are necessary.

Reatha Clark King in a lab, circa 1960s. 📷 National Institute of Standards and Technology

Undated photograph of Dr. Bettye Washington Greene, believed to be the first African American female chemist employed to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company. 📷 Science History Institute

Our digital collections include numerous materials that showcase the experiences and contributions of African Americans in science, including the photo above of Bettye Greene, which has been the most-viewed item in our collections for the past four years in a row:

George Washington Carver, Tuskegee Institute, 1906. 📷 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-J601-302/Frances Benjamin Johnston

George Washington Carver (ca. 1864–1943) was born enslaved in Missouri during the Civil War. He made it his mission to use agricultural chemistry and scientific methodology to improve the lives of impoverished farmers in the post–war South. His work developing hundreds of new products from peanuts, a soil-enriching legume, earned him the nickname the Peanut Man. Carver joined the faculty of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama in 1896 and stayed there for the rest of his life. He was both a teacher and a prolific researcher, heading up Tuskegee’s Agricultural Experiment Station.